Imagine thinking you had just won $1 million, only to be told you could not collect. That is what happened to General Motors executive Michael Grimaldi on August 26.

Grimaldi, vice president and general manager for field sales, service and parts, sank a hole in one during a charity golf match in Detroit called the Richest Day in Golf. Under the terms of the event, each person who got a hole in one would win $1 million.

Grimaldi got his on the 18th hole. But because GM was one of the sponsors of the event and paid Grimaldi's $5,000 entry fee, GM lawyers said Grimaldi would have violated the company's strict conflict-of-interest policy by accepting the money. The world's largest automaker has a ban on employees receiving any gifts or favors. Instead, GM said it would donate the money to charities chosen by Grimaldi.

Oh, if you were wondering, Grimaldi used a 4-iron on the 167-yard hole. Just in case you want to practice.

ATTENTION COMMENTERS: Over the last few months, Automotive News has monitored a significant increase in the number of personal attacks and abusive comments on our site. We encourage our readers to voice their opinions and argue their points. We expect disagreement. We do not expect our readers to turn on each other. We will be aggressively deleting all comments that personally attack another poster, or an article author, even if the comment is otherwise a well-argued observation. If we see repeated behavior, we will ban the commenter. Please help us maintain a civil level of discourse.